By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, DEC 22, 2019: THE Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Mr Nirmala Sitharaman, held her 8th Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting with the leading Economists here on Friday in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2020-21.

The main focus areas of the discussions included steps needed to achieve USD five trillion economy, job-oriented growth with focus on manufacturing and services, transparency of fiscal arithmetic, monetary transmission, Government’s fiscal prudence and fiscal stimulus, revival of NBFCs and inflation targeting among others.

The Economists were optimistic about the India growth story and put forward ways through which India can achieve the goal of trillion economy. Among the key suggestions were to attractmore investment to support growth; streamlining policy matters and faster resolution of policy issues in all sectors; fiscal management; reforms in the power sector; focus on long-term reforms through structural reforms in simplification of GST and Direct Tax Code reforms; securing supply chains for economy; fiscal deficit; continuity in economic policy making; land and labour reforms; ways to enhance rural demand; improve oversight of financial markets; reforms in small savings rate; boosting agricultural exports;simplifying procedures to give financial savingsa shot in the arm.